Trump celebrates Thanksgiving dinner after busy day

Thursday

Nov 22, 2018 at 8:31 AMNov 24, 2018 at 12:43 PM

UPDATE 9:45 p.m.

President Trump, his family and guests celebrated Thanksgiving in the ballroom at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday evening.

The family sat in the center of the ballroom, cordoned off from over 100 members and guests. Three of the president's four children - Eric, Ivanka and Tiffany - were at the table with their families, including four of the president's young grandchildren. Donald Trump Jr., recently divorced and now dating former Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle, and his five children were not present.

The feast in the president's private club concluded a full day that included calls to military officials, a visit to a Coast Guard station, a golf outing and a 30-minute question-and-answer session with the press pool.

During the talk with reporters, Trump threatened to close the U.S. southern border if Mexico can't "control" immigrants seeking to enter the United States. He also double-down on his criticism of a federal court, and defended daughter Ivanka Trump's use of a private email account to handle government business.

UPDATE 3:49 p.m.

The rain continues. The president's motorcade has just left Trump International Golf Club and is headed to Mar-a-Lago.

UPDATE 2:45 p.m.

Intermittent rain all afternoon but the president is still at his golf club.

UPDATE 1:24 p.m.

In what for most presidents is a staged, photo-op phone call devoid of politics and full of gratitude, the president's Thanksgiving Day conference call to troops devolved into a press conference on issues that have preoccupied the president and fueled his recent twitter rants.

The president focused much of his comments on a "caravan" of migrants and refugees that Trump claims is slowly moving north with the intention of "invading" the U.S. at its southern border.

"There are fist fights all over the street in Tijuana," Trump said from the living room at Mar-a-Lago. "These aren’t normal innocent people."

Trump used the threat of an invasion to whip-up crowds at many of his mid-term rallies and ordered 5,700 active-duty troops to the border over concerns that he was using the military as a political tool.

With the deployment set to end on Dec. 15 - weeks before the caravan will arrive at the border - Trump has been under intense pressure to justify the deployment and a White House memo authorizing the lethal use of force.

"If the military has to use lethal force (at the border) they will, but I hope they don’t have to," Trump said. “If we find that it’s uncontrollable and it gets to a level that we are going to loose control that we will close entry into the country.”

Secretary of Defense James Mattis said repeatedly on Wednesday that the Department of Homeland Security has not called for any lethal use of force and downplayed the potential for violence.

"You've seen the picture of the guys down there not carrying guns, so relax. Don't worry about it," Mattis told reporters.

During his Mar-a-Lago press conference, reporters questioned Trump about an earlier tweet on Thursday in which he again justified U.S. support for Saudi Arabia despite intelligence officials' findings linking Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Speaking to reporters, Trump insisted there was no "conclusion" that the crown prince was responsible for Kasoggi's murder and that it is important to have the country as an U.S. ally for creating "tremendous wealth and jobs and keeping the oil price down."

"He might have done it but they are denying he did," Trump said. “I hate the crime, I hate what’s done and the crown prince hates it more than I do."

UPDATE 11:46 a.m.

In a 2017 Thanksgiving morning redux, sans Melania, the president finished his call to overseas troops, dropped off sub sandwiches and fruit at the Riviera Beach Coast Guard station, then headed to his golf course.

The president thanked the Coast Guard crew, told them they were welcome to play at his club and added: "If you make par, I'll give you $100."

Last year first lady Melania Trump accompanied her husband to the Coast Guard station.

UPDATE 11:20 a.m.

President Trump took questions from reporters on a morning he spent making calls to U.S. military servicemen and women overseas.

Trump again tried to dampen criticism of his handling of the murder and dismembering of Washington Post columnist Jamal Kashoggi.

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Apparently contradicting U.S. intelligence reports, Trump insisted there has been “no conclusion” that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is responsible for a journalist’s gruesome death.

And he added: “I am more upset than anyone.”

The president again drew a distinction between Hillary Clinton's use of emails and first daughter Ivanka Trump. Trump's eldest daughter, a White House aide, has come under fire for conducting government business on her personal email account. A practice that Trump blasts 2016 rival Clinton, leading to chants of "Lock her up!"

President Trump's Thanksgiving message to the troops

Trump told reporters he had spoken to Ivanka about the issue but that all of Ivanka's emails are in a “historical record” — again drawing a distinction by raising a familiar campaign theme, Clinton's reportedly missing emails.

Trump is en route to the Coast Guard station in Lake Worth.

UPDATE 10:12 a.m.

The president tweeted a 1:56 video Thanksgiving message, heaping thanks on first responders, law enforcement and more than 200,000 "brave Americans currently serving overseas."

In an apparent nod to the 5,000 troops he ordered deployed to the southern border of the U.S. to defend against an "invasion" of immigrants and refugees, he added: "We thank God for every patriot who serves our nation in uniform."

Trump has come under harsh criticism for not visiting deployed troops and whether his decision to send troops to the Mexican border was motivated by politics or a real threat from what has described as an "invasion" by immigrants and refugees.

Before heading to Palm Beach on Wednesday, he dismissed a reporter's question about troops deployed on the Mexican border who would miss Thanksgiving with their families.

"Don't worry about the Thanksgiving— These are tough people ... You're so worried about the Thanksgiving holiday for them. They are so proud to be representing our country on the border," Trump said.

The president's first message to the nation via Twitter this morning was not one of thanks but rather a counter-punch to critics who have blasted his praise for Saudi Arabia after the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Quoting a recent comment by Sec. of State Mike Pompeo, Trump began: "It's a mean & nasty world out there, the Middle East in particular. This is a long and historic commitment, & one that is absolutely vital to America's national security."

Three minutes later, the president followed up twee more in the holiday spirit: "HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!"

Later this morning the president is expected to video conference deployed troops away from their families today amid criticism of his decision to send thousands of troops to protect the southern border from what he has described as a caravan of immigrants intent on invading the United States.

The president made a similar live video call last Thanksgiving from the living room at Mar-a-Lago before visiting a local Coast Guard Station. He then squeezed in a round of golf before turkey dinner with his family.

President Trump's Thanksgiving message to the troops

Palm Beach Post reporter Chelsea Todaro is embedded with the national press pool today and will be providing live updates. After a security sweep by Secret Service, she spotted Eric and Lara Trump taking a stroll with their two dogs and son Luke.

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